Guitar-man

My guitar music folder is expanding by the day. The songs from my guitar teacher in the UK consisted mostly of 60's & 70's songs, these are being pushed to the back of my folder by a diverse collection of music. I am playing my guitar in a variety of places and so I have to make sure I take the correct music with me. A couple of weeks ago at the 'Woman's day of prayer' I was playing 'Amazing Grace' with 2 chords, because the accompanying piano was so out of tune the pianist had to avoid certain notes. Life is a little easier in the hospital chapel where most of the time I play solo, but there is a huge diverstiy of songs at the different services: at one service we use Tabernacle Hymns from the 1960's with hymns such as 'Count your blessings'; at another service we use an Arabic chorus book with songs like 'uhibbuka rabbi yasuu'; and on Sunday evenings more modern hymns and songs, including 'How great is our God'. In our adult English lesson 'Summertime' has been used to add variety to a lesson; and at school good old favourites like 'The wheels on the bus'. At the end of the week I appreicate the chance to sit down and play 'Here comes the sun', 'Blackbird' and 'Yesterday' - you still can't beat those classic Beatles songs. P

Web-links to a long weekend of meetings

After travelling down to Jerusalem on Friday we found out that our meeting at the cathedral had been cancelled. In the evening we went to the Church of the Nazarene for dinner, a communion service and a tour of their roof. As with most buildings in this part of the world the roof is flat, which allows it to be used for an aquaponics experiment: http://www.aquaponics.org.uk/information/

On Saturday we met with a couple from the UK who serve with the Chemin Neuf Community at the Ecco Homo guest house. We first met them in Nazareth where they may be helping to run a new initiave called the Mary Centre, which also has a newly grown roof garden:

http://www.eccehomoconvent.org/en/content/chemin-neuf-community

On Sunday we visited the East Jerusalem Baptist Church where the sermon was given by a Chinese pastor, he gave an interesting talk with updates from China.

On Monday we visited the Hope School, where we met Dick and Janet from one of our supporting churches in the UK, it also gave Jane the opportunity to show off her great knowledge of Arabic - shame the student didn't understand her, must be the Nazareth accent: http://www.hopeschoolbeitjala.com/

And later we visited a permaculture farm:

http://www.bustanqaraaqa.org/al3/web/page/display/id/1.html

Before returning to Nazareth on Tuesday we had another non-meeting at the Cathedral. Apart from our meetings at the beginning and end of our long-weekend we had some very productive meetings and met some great people who gave us food for thought, I hope you find some of the links interesting. P

Logic

We are still getting used to living in a different culture. There's not only the weather and language, but there's also a different worldview. When we have appointments and meetings we try to plan alternative arrangements, and pack a book and MP3 player, just in case the meeting is late or cancelled, which is quite often. But one reliable part of life here are the buses that leave the bus stations exactly on time, but after leaving the bus station the Middle Eastern logic takes over. There's a sentence on the timetable that the times at all the subsequent bus-stops depend on traffic conditions, and that buses may pass earlier than scheduled. At least buses at home normally wait until the planned time if they are early. I cannot see the need for a detailed timetable if the bus does not wait if it is running early. We are fortunate that we normally travel between bus stations and so we rarely have to spend hours and hours waiting at bus stops. P

A Right Turkey!

Living in the Middle East, we never know who or what we are going to find in our back garden. On this occasion we had just arrived back home after a torrential rain storm and came across a turkey, a guinea fowl, not really sure what. Peter put Jane on guard while he rushed inside to get a camera. The bird started getting a little aggressive so Jane is holding the umbrella up as tentative protection. Needless to say we didn't eat our new friend for lunch.
Time is ticking away now for us now, we've just 6 months left; we are trying to make the most of every day and every relationship we encounter, friendly or hostile! We have just started teaching English at the Bible College and have a delightful group of 10 students of mixed faiths and backgrounds. Our work with children and young adults is also increasing and we are grateful that two years of relationship building is now coming to fruition. ' Nouska Allah !' Thanks to God (as they say in these parts) J

Forever Friends

One of our regular visitors to the flat is this 'little fellow'. He is one of our more docile and less active visitors (previous friends include a rat and outside scorpion) but he does have personality and staying power. He did not want to get out of the sink at this stage in the proceedings, and insisted on helping me wash up the cups.
We do like to be welcoming to all - as the Arabs say 'ahlan wa salan' but this was one step to far for me. He fitted quite snuggley into a plant pot and I bravely removed him to colder climes. Somehow I think he will return! J

Merry Christmas Everybody

'Does he ride a red-nose reindeer,

Does a ton-up on his sleigh,

Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

So here it is, merry Christmas...

Now I realise what I miss about Christmas in the UK - the continuous wall to wall sounds of glam rock songs from the 70's. As a teenager of the 70's I enjoyed the songs then, but how many times over the years have I heard songs from those glam pop years, the 'highlight' being 1973 with Christmas songs from Slade, Wizard and Elton John.

We are obviously missing everything about Christmas in the UK, but we are not left in any doubt that it is Christmas, our diary is full of choir performances, church, school & hospital services, carolling evenings and concerts - including Handel's Messiah on Christms Day. P

baaba noweel

Birthdays are over and we are now getting into the Christmas spirit. We had a busy time during our birthdays (16th & 28th) with trips to Bethlehem, helping at a youth conference and our day to day routines. But our routine was interupted last night by a call from the Childrens Ward, 'Can you come and help decorate the ward, because the Pope is visiting us tomorrow?' We helped with the Christmas decorations and this morning waited for a 'messenger' from the Pope who turned out to be heavily disguised as Father Christmas from Germany, who had been delayed by snow a Frankfurt airport! He had a bishop's mitre and crook, and a pet pig to give out the chocolates (culturally sensitive!). He was surrounded by the local press and all the hospital mangement so we didn't manage to get a papal chocolate. P